Lake Dwellings Remains of various pre- and post-BRONZE Age settle¬ ments within the margins of lakes in southern Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy. The dwellings appeal’ to have been built on platforms supported by piles above the water surface or above swampy areas along the water’s edge. The platforms supported one- or two-room rectangular huts with beaten clay floors. Cattle and sheep were raised in some of the structures. Most dwellings seem to have burned, either by accident or by attack. Because the Lake Dwellers usually rebuilt new villages on the remains of the old, archaeologists were able to work out a cultural sequence confirming that the Bronze Age immediately followed the Stone Age. See also crannog.
Lake of the Ozarks See Lake of the Ozarks Lake of the Woods See Lake of the Woods
Lake Placid Village (pop., 2000: 2,638), northeastern New York, U.S., on Mirror Lake and Lake Placid, in the Adirondack Mountains. The site was settled in 1800, but it was abandoned after crop failures. Resettled during the 1840s, it was promoted in 1850 as a summer resort, and Melvil Dewey founded the Lake Placid Club there in 1895. It is a year-round rec¬ reation area with numerous hotels, golf courses, ski resorts, and moun¬ tain scenery. It was the scene of the Olympic Games in 1932 and 1980.
lake trout or Mackinaw trout or Great Lakes trout or salmon trout Large, voracious char (Salvelinus namaycush) found widely from northern Canada and Alaska to New England and the Great Lakes, usually in deep, cool lakes. They are greenish gray and covered with pale spots. In spring, 5-lb (2.3-kg) lake trout are caught in shallow water; in summer, fish of up to 100 lbs (45 kg) are trolled in deep water. Lake trout were virtually eliminated from the Great Lakes by the sea lam¬ prey, which entered through the Welland Canal in the 1930s. They have been introduced in the western U.S., South America, Europe, and New Zealand.
Lake Turkana remains Collection of hominin fossils found along the shores of Lake Turkana (Lake Rudolf) in northwestern Kenya. The Koobi Fora site, excavated by the Leakey family and others, has proved to be the richest trove of hominin remains anywhere in the world, yielding fossils that represent perhaps 230 individuals, including members of Homo habi- lis, Homo erectus, and Australopithecus. On the western shore was found a remarkably well-preserved skeleton of an 11-year-old boy (“Turkana Boy”) later classified as H. ergaster or H. erectus and dated to c. 1.8 mil¬ lion years ago. This surprisingly human specimen suggests that H. ergaster may have been the direct ancestor of the hominins that left Africa for Eurasia c. 1 million years ago. See also human evolution.
Lakewood Township (pop., 2000: 60,352), eastern New Jersey, U.S. Located southwest of Asbury Park, it was settled by the Dutch and English in 1800, and it was known successively as Three Partners’ Mill, Washing¬
ton’s Furnace, Bergen Iron Works, and Bricksburg. It is now a popular resort and recreation area, and its population has tripled since the 1960s.
Lakshadweep \bk-'shad-,wep\ Union territory (pop., 2001 prelim.: 60,595) of India. Located in the Arabian Sea off India’s southwestern coast, it includes 27 islands (10 of which are inhabited), with a total land area of 12 sq mi (32 sq km). The capital is Kavaratti. Once ruled by the Hindu Kulashekhara dynasty, it became part of an Islamic dominion in the 12th century. Britain gained sovereignty over it in the 18th century and assumed direct administration in 1908. It passed to India in 1947 and became the nation’s smallest union territory in 1956. Coconut palms are the agricultural mainstay, while fishing is the chief industry.
Lakshmi or Laksmi \'bk-shme\ Hindu and Jain goddess of wealth and good fortune. The consort of Vishnu, she is said to have taken different forms to be with him in each of his incarnations. She is a principal object of worship during Divali, when her presence is sought in homes, temples, and businesses for the whole of the year to come.
Lalique \la-'lek\, Rene (Jules) (b. April 6, 1860, Ay, Fr.—d. May 5, 1945, Paris) French jeweler and glassmaker. Trained in Paris and London, he opened his own firm in Paris in 1885 and soon acquired clients such as Sarah Bernhardt. Reacting against machine-produced jewelry featuring precious gems, he designed elegant and fantastic jewelry with less con¬ ventional gemstones (tourmaline, cornelian, etc.) and materials such as horn. His designs contributed significantly to the Art Nouveau movement and later the Art Deco movement. His interest in architectural glass led him to develop the style of molded glass for which he is famous, char¬ acterized by iced surfaces, elaborate patterns in relief, and occasionally applied or inlaid colour.
Enamel, glass, and topaz hair ornament and brooch by Lalique, 1900; in the Vic¬ toria and Albert Museum, London
COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON
lama In Tibetan Buddhism, a spiritual leader. Some lamas are considered to be reincarnations of their predecessors; others have won respect for their high level of spiritual development. The most honored of the rein¬ carnate lamas is the Dalai Lama; second in spiritual authority is the Panchen Lama. The process of discovering the new incarnation of a lama, espe¬ cially the Dalai Lama, is elaborate and exacting. Oracular messages, unusual signs during the lama’s death or during a birth thereafter, and examinations of candidates identify a successor. The child thus identified as the lama’s incarnation is given extensive monastic training from an early age.
Lamar \b-'mar\, Mirabeau Buonaparte (b. Aug. 16, 1798, Lou¬ isville, Ga., U.S.—d. Dec. 19, 1859, Richmond, Texas) U.S. politician. After an unsuccessful career as a merchant in Alabama, he served as sec¬ retary to the governor of Georgia and later became editor of a newspaper favouring states’ rights. He then moved to Texas, where he became involved in the independence struggle against Mexico. As a cavalry com¬ mander, he helped win the Battle of San Jacinto (1836) and was later appointed secretary of war in the provisional Texas government. He was elected vice president of the Republic of Texas under Sam Houston, whom he succeeded as president (1838—41). He initially opposed annexation to the U.S., but after 1844 he advocated statehood to ensure the continua¬ tion of slavery.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
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Lamarck \b-'mark\, Jean-Baptiste de Monet, knight de (b.
Aug. 1, 1744, Bazentin-le-Petit, Picardy, France—d. Dec. 18, 1829, Paris) French biologist. He is credited with the first use of the word biology (1802). He was one of the originators of the modem concept of the museum collection, an array of objects whose arrangement constitutes a classification under institutional sponsorship, maintained and kept up-to- date by knowledgeable specialists. He seems to have been the first to relate fossils to the living organisms to which they corresponded most closely. His notion that acquired traits could be inherited (called Lamarckism) was discredited after the 1930s by most geneticists except in the Soviet Union, where it dominated Russian genetics until the 1960s (see Trofim Lysenko). See also Charles Darwin; Darwinism.
Lamartine \la-mar-'ten\, Alphonse de (b. Oct. 21, 1790, Macon, France—d. Feb. 28, 1869, Paris) French poet and statesman. After brief military service under Louis XVIII, he turned to literature, writing verse tragedies and elegies. He is chiefly remembered for his successful first collection of poetry, the musical, evocative Meditations poetiques (1820), which established him as a key figure in French Romanticism. From 1830 he was active in politics, speaking for the working classes. After France’s Second Republic was proclaimed in 1848, he briefly headed the provisional government until the revolution was crushed. In later years he published novels, poetry, and historical works in a vain struggle against bankruptcy.